According to a recent United Nations report, China's population of 1.4 billion represents 19% of the world's entire population of 7.6 billion. As the distance between east and west contracts in business, so too do the arts. This dissertation focuses on six selected contemporary Chinese art songs composed by Nan-Chang Chien. By providing the references of musical facts, synopsis of the poems, word-for-word translation, IPA transcription, poetic translation, and interpretive and performance guides, singers and pianists will have an overall understanding and detailed directions for learning the Chinese language and Chinese art songs. This dissertation also provides the foundation and model for further exploration and research into Chinese art sing literature by scholars in the west.

This research contributes valuable contextual information to the study of Karol Szymanowski's little-known song cycle Seven Songs to Poems of James Joyce, op. 54 (1926), providing a reliable, comprehensive reference for singers and scholars. In this research, I establish separate historical contexts for James Joyce's Chamber Music and Szymanowski's settings of the poems in op. 54. Using these established historical contexts, I then analyze Joyce's poems and Szymanowski's text settings, focusing on their styles and aesthetics. Szymanowski reorders the seven selected poems, creating a new storyline related to—but different from—the original. Where Chamber Music presents a chronological emotional arc, Seven Songs presents a roller coaster-like storyline, achieved by flashing back and forth between the protagonist's past and present. I demonstrate how Szymanowski's newly-created, complex storyline fits both the surface and deeper meanings of each poem, using specific musical elements to enhance emotional conflicts in the texts. I conclude with a detailed analysis of the relationship between the text and music of this song cycle, serving as a performance guide. I hope that my analysis and complete performance of this cycle will reignite interest in Szymanowski's music outside of Poland, especially in countries where English is the native language.

In the West, operas in Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian are the best known in collegiate and professional classical music settings. Given the changes in social climate in recent decades, however, attention is being given to the study and performance of under-represented minorities. There have been operas composed in the West on Asian topics, but one does not yet hear operas in Asian languages programmed as part of a regular season in major opera houses in the United States. The challenge for Western singers is threefold: access to the music, reading and pronouncing the language, and understanding the nuance of the rich Chinese culture in the libretto. This study presents the following five arias: "We Have to Be Apart," from The Dawns Here Are Quiet (这里的黎明静悄悄) by Tang Jianping; "The Daughter of Yimeng" and "Milk, Tears and Blood," from The Mountain of Yimeng (沂蒙山) by Luan Kai; "Forgetting Everything While Turning," from Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again (再别康桥) by Zhou Xue Shi; and "Lullaby," from the opera The Orphan of Zhao (赵氏孤儿) by Lei Lei. It includes a brief biographical introduction to the composer and librettist for each opera, a synopsis of the plot, a description of …

The cantata A World Without War (2009), by Armenian-born composer Edward Manukyan (b. 1981), was written, in part, to support increased awareness of human rights issues. Based on a quote from linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky (b. 1928), the narrative of the cantata states: "We can, for example, be fairly confident that either there will be a world without war or there won't be a world." In addition to Chomsky's words, the cantata excerpts quotes of two additional literary giants advocating human rights, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), and Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989). The purpose of this dissertation is to focus attention on human rights activism; using Manukyan's A World Without War, I highlight moral and ethical questions at the center of this work and explain how this cantata embraces the ideal of moral cosmopolitanism. I strongly believe in the importance of human rights for all citizens of the world, and the role music plays in advancing its cause through performance arts.

Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) is considered to be the father of the Brazilian art song. With a total of seventy songs, Nepomuceno revolutionized and established a new path to the Brazilian art song. His songs were innovative because they: (1) incorporated folk elements in his songs, (2) introduced Portuguese as a language acceptable in bel canto style and (3) established Brazilian songs in the tradition of the European vanguard. His approach influenced several composers including his young student Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), one of the most significant Latin American composers. The purpose of this research is to inform singers and teachers about one of Brazil's most significant art song composers, and to provide the necessary tools--Brazilian Portuguese diction guide, IPA and poem translations of the selected songs--for effective and accurate performances and interpretations.

This dissertation examines the work of German composer and vocal pedagogue Nina d'Aubigny von Engelbrunner through her collection of songs entitled "Deutsche, Italienische und Französische Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte," published in 1797. A brief overview of the life and works of Ms. d'Aubigny is provided, followed by a discussion about the "woman question" as it relates to Ms. d'Aubigny's works. The second part of this project includes a new, modern performance edition of the collection of songs, complete with general editorial guidelines, notes and translations, and a critical report detailing all deviations from the original 1797 edition.

María Grever (1885-1951) overcame racism and gender bias during a pivotal era in American music history to become the first commercially successful Mexican female composer and more specifically, a pioneer of popular music during the first half of the 20th century. Though named the "Madonna of song," her legacy is largely overshadowed by other compositional giants of the era, such as the Gershwin brothers, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. Grever's music is sophisticated, heartfelt, and worthy of attention. Her colorful, genuine music adds distinctiveness and variety to recital programs. Grever's songs offer a high level of musical integrity and socio-cultural value. Incorporating her compositions into a singer's vocal repertoire is an excellent way to broaden the scope of styles and languages while maintaining the highest standards of musical study. The following document considers the importance of performing and studying Grever's music by analyzing nine songs representing three compositional periods. I evaluated the songs considering pedagogical benefit, performance value, and significance to her overall oeuvre.

This research of distance learning in singing study provides some historical framework of long-distance singing study, including research on three former distance singing courses, which exemplify the "best practices" of their time: Siegel-Myers Correspondence School of Music, the Perfect Voice Institute, and the Hermann Klein Phono-Vocal Method: Based Upon the Famous School of Manuel Garcia. I also discuss current trends in long-distance singing study, including interviews and insights from current long-distance singing teachers using cutting edge technology in their virtual studios. Lastly, I make predictions and projections, based on analyses of past "best practices," where this information may have impact upon future methods of distance singing lessons, including conceivable distance singing course components of online degree programs offered at universities.

Jihoon Park (b.1973), a South Korean composer with over 500 compositions spanning multiple genres, is treasured in his motherland as the most noteworthy composer of his generation. This study provides an in-depth introduction of the gagok (Korean art songs) of Park to Western teachers and students of singing, discussing his compositional techniques and their application to the interpretation of his selected songs. Moreover, the introduction to International Korean Phonetic Alphabet (IKPA) to supplement the traditionally used International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) serves as the foundation and model for further exploration into Korean art song literature by Western scholars.

Emma Diruf Seiler (1821-1886) was a Bavarian-American voice teacher and scientist who wrote and published Altes und Neues über die Ausbildung des Gesangorganes mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Frauenstimme (Old and New in the Art of Singing, with Special Attention to the Female Voice) in 1861 while working in Leipzig. It was translated by William Henry Furness and published in Philadelphia as The Voice in Singing in 1868. This pedagogue and her writings are largely unknown to those who study historic bel canto pedagogy. In the opening of Seiler's pamphlet, she explained her purpose for writing was "to bring into harmony things which have always been treated separately, the Science and the Art of Singing..." Aside from brief comments in a few books on vocal pedagogy, Emma Seiler is largely unknown. Neither her contribution to voice science and pedagogy, nor the impact of her integrated philosophy on teaching have been subjected to scholarly scrutiny. The purpose of this document is to explore her philosophy on teaching, her method of female vocal instruction, and her impact on voice instruction. This dissertation historicizes evidence-based pedagogy through Seiler's example.

This collection of 9 vocal works, taken from the oœuvre of André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741-1813), was chosen for their utility in teaching undergrad voice majors. This collection offers a group of songs that are attractive in their simplicity allowing the time in their lessons to be devoted to the instruction of French pronunciation. Grétry's attention to detail in the setting of French prosody provides undergraduate singers with a collection of songs that offer an immediate understanding as to the nuances of the French language. With funding from an I-GRO grant through the University of North Texas, research was conducted in the archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and work continued in the Grétry Museum in Liège, Belgium. The primary sources found within these locations formulated valuable insights into to the life and influence of Grétry, and provided first-hand experience with research techniques within foreign libraries. This research has solidified the relationship between Grétry's compositional style and its usefulness within the undergraduate voice studio.

The majority of repertoire catalogs for singers, printed and digital, often list works by voice type, language, and/or genre. The 21st century has seen an emergence of online classical music catalogs where the user can seek repertoire by searching composers from underrepresented communities (i.e., women, Black, LGBTQ, Latinx). What does not currently exist is a resource that catalogs songs for solo voice dealing specifically with gay subject matter. This dissertation surveys seventeen 21st century gay-themed art songs by four living American composers: David Del Tredici, Ben Moore, Clint Borzoni, and Gary Schocker. Each chapter introduces a different composer and a select representation of their gay-themed art songs. Each entry includes text analysis based on the composer's and author's intentions and a brief analysis to determine pedagogical and musical difficulty. It is my intent that this document will facilitate a much-needed resource and encourage further study, promotion, and performance of voice works with gay themes. Moreover, I hope that it will serve as a tool for the applied voice teacher to assist in the vocal and artistic development of their students through broader repertoire choices.

Emil Behnke was a highly esteemed vocal pedagogue of the late nineteenth century. Perhaps rare for the time, the art and science of teaching vocal methods of speech and singing was a Behnke family business, one that Emil shared with his wife and daughter, who were both named Kate. Indeed, Emil's daughter, Kate Emil Behnke, was equally regarded and valued in the field of vocal pedagogy, carrying her father's teachings into the twentieth century. Meanwhile, the elder Kate Behnke, wife to Emil and mother to Kate Emil, was responsible for administering and building upon her husband's innovative methods of speech therapy, establishing her own reputation as a speech healer. The Behnke family published no less than fourteen books, cumulatively. Largely forgotten today, the purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive overview of the biography and the pedagogical methods and works of the Behnke family, and to contextualize these methods within the framework of trusted vocal pedagogy, both historic and current.

For applied teachers of the bel canto method of singing, classical musical theatre repertoire provides an abundant resource of material for teaching the undergraduate baritone voice. Select classic musical theatre repertoire, fitting within the parameters of suitable range, tessitura, duration, and thematic material for an undergraduate baritone, will be used to demonstrate the application of bel canto techniques such as: glottal onsets, the connection between the speaking voice and singing voice, suitable vowels in building the upper range, and teaching sostenuto and legato. This dissertation serves as a guide for teaching sound vocalism through classic musical theatre repertoire.

This dissertation presents evidence for the influence which tenor Enrico Caruso had on the Italian Vocal Tradition. This impact was clearly boosted by the revolution realized in the fledgling recording industry, and the recordable disc. In the years of 1902-1920 gramophones became commonplace, and collecting recordings became an interest for many. This new technology required specialized skills, and was especially suited to certain qualities of voice. Caruso enjoyed immense success in this medium, in recording over 250 records. Italian vocal style at the turn of the century was changing, and Caruso employed a new "modern" style in his singing. His interpretive decisions, vocal method, and repertoire which he championed had an impact on the vocal tradition of future generations. Comparison of his recordings with tenors Fernando de Lucia, Giuseppe Anselmi, and Alessandro Bonci shows a marked contrast in styles of "the old school" and Caruso's "more straightforward" approach. A collection of historical documents for those who succeeded him include many biographies, reviews, and quotes to demonstrate the extent of his influence. Recordings also show a movement toward "the Caruso Sound." Jussi Bjoerling, Franco Corelli, Richard Tucker, Mario Lanza, and Luciano Pavarotti were all influenced by the great Caruso. Almost 100 …

Latin American art song is a genre primarily of the first half of the twentieth-century, when popular folklore served as the voice and inspiration of many poets and musicians. The nationalist movement served as a means of expression, each Latin American country with its own identity. There is great benefit for singers to study Spanish diction at an academic level, since it is a language already familiar to most U.S.A residents. There is a significant amount of unknown repertoire that would be very useful in the singing studio because of the language's open vowels. This repertoire can also serve as a confidence-builder to young Spanish-speaking singers at the beginning of their training. I will be focusing on the (s), (ll), and (y) sounds as pronounced in the diverse regions of Latin America; in particular, why they matter when coaching singers, and the articulators involved in each. The purpose of this study is to discuss diction differences in the repertoire, expound on its benefits for voice pedagogy, all while informing about varied options for recital programming.

Franz Schreker (1878-1934) was a Jewish-Austrian composer of great success during the first decades of the twentieth century. Schreker’s reputation diminished after 1933 when Hitler came to power and, in 1938, his compositions were labeled Entartete Musik (“degenerate music”) by the Nazis in a public display in Düsseldorf. The Third Reich and post-war Germany saw Schreker as a decadent outcast, misunderstanding his unique style that combined elements of romanticism, expressionism, impressionism, symbolism, and atonality. This study of Schreker’s Lieder will pursue two goals. First, it will analyze the Mutterlieder (before 1898), the Fünf Gesänge (1909), and the first piece from Vom ewigen Leben (1923) stylistically. Schreker composed nearly four dozen Lieder, incorporating a wide range of styles and ideas. By studying and performing these songs written at various points in his career (including early songs, songs written after he met Schoenberg, and his last songs during the height of his fame), I hope to develop a clearer understanding of how Schreker synthesized the many cultural forces and artistic movements that seem to have influenced his compositional style. Second, this study will consider the sociopolitical circumstances that fueled the disintegration of his reputation. This disintegration occurred not just during the Third …

This anthology of late 19th- and early 20th-century Czech opera arias for soprano focuses on works that lack existing scholarship, bridging the language gap through translations and pronunciation materials for English-speaking singers. Its 24 arias supplement the works of Smetana, Dvořák, and Janáček with those of contemporaneous composers Karel Bendl, Zdeněk Fibich, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Karel Kovařovic, Vítězslav Novák, and Otakar Ostrčil. Its musicological scope provides vignettes of the musical-cultural landscape of Czech opera around the turn of the 20th century, the transformation of Czech declamation during that period, and the language knowledge needed to sing the works thereof. Chapter 2 elucidates the methodology used in the anthology's phonetic transcriptions and discusses the unique articulatory demands of singing in Czech. Chapter 3 grounds contemporaneous discussion of Czech declamation as late 19th- and early 20th-century composers and librettists sought to shape a musical voice suited to the features of their language. The following chapter is a look at Janáček's unique solution to this challenge. In Chapter 5, the relationship between criticism and composition is examined for these two faces of Czech modernism. Finally, Chapter 6 includes new performance editions of the arias curated for the anthology. Each aria is accompanied by …

Wonju Lee (b. 1979) has already made her own unique contribution to Korean art song. Her songs commissioned by classical Korean music performers have been recorded and released on record labels such as Universal Music and Sony Music. Albums include the Gagok collection, Lee Hwa-woo, The Pear Blossom Falls published by Soo Moon Dang. Some songs have been published by music publishers in the United States such as Classical Vocal Reprints and in Korea by the Korean Traditional Music Resource Center. Wonju Lee's songs are being performed by singers not only in Korea but also in the United States. This study provides information regarding the history of Gagok (Korean art songs) and discusses two duets "Scent of Ink" and "Under the Cherry Tree," and three solo songs "Sam-Arirang," "Relationship," and "Loom Song" by Wonju Lee. This critical essay includes biographical information about the composer and poets, IPA transcriptions for each song, and both word-for-word and poetic translations. In addition, using the methodology from Carol Kimball's book Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature, style sheets of musical characteristics for each song and for the composer are provided and serve as the basis for interpretive recommendations for performers.

Over the past century, the widespread popularity of Western art music, in particular that of the standard operatic repertoire, has gradually expanded the development of opera in China. In order to bolster a broad range of classical music genres and help promote the development of Chinese opera, opera houses and opera companies have been built in several major Chinese cities. Moreover, a series of first-rate international vocal competitions have been established to promote original Chinese operas and art songs. Nonetheless, performing this modern repertoire can represent a novel and demanding experience for both Chinese and non-Chinese speaking singers. This dissertation examines eight representative works of Chinese music: four arias and four art songs for soprano. These pieces challenge the singer both in terms of their musical style and their singing techniques. The purpose of this study is therefore to provide a detailed performance guide for sopranos that can assist them to successfully perform these works. In addition, this research will supply relevant background information on the selected compositions, an overview of their historical significance, the origin of the source poem or drama, and acquaint the reader with the key features of the main characters. Furthermore, to better understand the original …

This dissertation examines the contributions of the early twentieth-century Chinese composer Huang Zi to the genre of Chinese art songs. It discusses how he combined Western compositional techniques with traditional Chinese music and ancient or contemporary Chinese poetry, focusing on his works 花非花 Flowers in the Mist, 点绛唇, 赋登楼 Ode to Ascending the Tower, 思乡 Missing Homelands, and 春思曲 Spring Nostalgia. Huang's songs, which created a bridge between East and West, are still significant today in China and deserve performance in the West, too. Translations and a phonetic guide to the four songs are provided so that Western singers have the tools they need to perform these songs.

Chinese art songs—which are derived from over four thousand years of Chinese culture and combine unique Chinese literary and musical flavors with Western compositional techniques—remain largely unknown in the Western world. Chinese art song, a treasure of a genre, deserves more attention from Western singers and scholars. With a population of 1.41 billion, China has the largest potential market for bel canto singing. Not only will studying Chinese art songs enrich a singer's worldview and repertoire choices, doing so will also be advantageous when singing internationally. In order to assist non-Chinese-speaking singers overcome the difficult language barrier that often prevents them from studying Chinese art songs, I have chosen six songs by the renowned early twentieth century Chinese composer, Huang Zi (1904–1938) to analyze. Although he remains virtually unknown in the Western scholarly world, Huang's Chinese art songs, which include both ancient and contemporary Chinese poetry as well as Chinese and Western musical characteristics, are representative of this genre. By analyzing the poetry and musical settings of six Chinese art songs by Huang Zi, providing pronunciation instructions for Mandarin Chinese, word-for-word and poetic translations, practical International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions from the Pinyin system, and creating an interpretive guide of …

The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task Force of 1940, initiated a systematic confiscation of items belonging to Jews throughout Europe. Because of this task force and Hitler's decrees, Jews across Europe were labeled as stateless, and were stripped of ownership and rights to property. Not only did these actions devastate Jews economically, but intellectually and artistically as well. In parts of occupied France, this task force was legitimized by Vichy laws under the label of the Commissariat Générale aux Questions Juives (General Commission for Jewish Issues) and enabled Nazi officials to closely watch Jewish musicians and stop them from performing their music, profiting from anyone else performing it, and to halt any public performance of Jewish compositions. This dissertation exhibits the lost legacy of one such Jewish musician, Józef Szulc. It discusses him as a musician of great importance in the ongoing recovery of Jewish culture, music, and life during World War II. His musical output has historical notoriety, as seen through reviews and performance history. The study of Vichy laws and their effect on Jewish musicians in Paris during the Nazi occupation provides the socio-political context for Szulc's life. It also provides the most plausible reason why his contribution to French …

The dwindling supply of castrati created a crisis in the opera world in the early 19th century. Castrati had dominated opera seria throughout the 18th century, but by the early 1800s their numbers were in decline. Impresarios and composers explored two voice types as substitutes for the castrato in male leading roles in serious operas: the contralto and the tenor. The study includes data from 242 serious operas that premiered in Italy between 1800 and 1840, noting the casting of the male leading role for each opera. At least 67 roles were created for contraltos as male heroes between 1800 and 1834. More roles were created for tenors in that period (at least 105), but until 1825 there is no clear preference for tenors over contraltos except in Naples. The Neapolitan preference for tenors is most likely due to the influence of Bourbon Kings who sought to bring Enlightenment values to Naples. After the last castrato retired in 1830 and the casting of contraltos as male heroic leads falls out of favor by the mid-1830s, the tenor, aided by a new chest-voice dominant style of singing, becomes the inheritor of the castrato's former role as leading man in serious Italian …